Crisis Communication

What’s a crisis? A very simple question, with a very simple answer, but unexpected consequences. A crisis is something whose occurrence is unpredictable. It affects a large number of people. It is something hat everyone can relate to. The death of a lose relative, a flood, or tsunami, or even a broken heart – all can become crisis of one’s own life. Organizations face crisis as well. One of the famous examples of a crisis is the Enron accounting scandal, and the J&J Tylenol crisis.
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A crisis can be defined under three broad categories: Natural crisis, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis; Human Induced, such as financial and accounting frauds; and Unpredictable crisis, such as oil spills, the 9/11 terrorist attack, heavy rains causing floods etc.

While all crises are unique, they do share some common characteristics. These are:

the element of surprise
insufficient information
the quick pace of events
intense scrutiny

Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol crisis of 1982 is one of the most famous crises, and is referred to as the “gold standard” of the product-recall crisis management. In late September and early October of 1982, 7 people died after taking the Tylenol capsules that had being laced with cyanide. The sales dropped by close to 90%. But J&J is a highly ethical organization that does not have a mission or vision statement, but has its “CREDO”. Finally, J&J came out of the crisis due to its string reputation as “the caring company”.

A company should always prepare itself for a crisis. The company should always have a plan, and should be aware of the consequences that a crisis would have on its constituencies. The corporate communication department should set the communication objectives for a potential crisis. Different teams should be assigned to each crisis, the department should plan for centralization; should decide what to include in the formal plan, a list of who all o notify in an emergency, like media, employees, crisis headquarters etc. Finally the company should lay down the description of he plan in written.

Following are the steps that’ll help a company to communicate effectively during a crisis:

Step 1: Get control of the situation.
Step 2: Gather as much information as possible.
Step 3: Set up a centralized crisis management center.
Step 4: Communicate early and often.
Step 5: Understand the media's mission in a crisis.
Step 6: Communicate directly with affected constituents.
Step 7: Remember that business must continue.
Step 8: Make plans to avoid another crisis.

Following articles tells us about crisis in different spheres:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3095/is_11_96/ai_n6090416

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4422/is_n4_v11/ai_15312599

Crisis is something that can occur anytime, to anybody, anywhere. One should always have a plan for a potential crisis. It’s always clever to have a backup plan. In the end, as it’s said, the show must go on, and so does the business.